Quid Est Caritas?
by TheChronicler137
Summary: Two short stories, a little parable of sorts, about love, acted out by Lok, Scarlet and Sophie. Enjoy. Reflect.
1. Chapter 1: Deserving

Prima Partis: Deserving

**A/N "Veritas? Quid est veritas?" ~Pontius Pilate, _The Passion of the Christ_**

**While the (EDIT: now-defunct)_ Alpha and Omega _New Law trilogy and the Huntik _No Rest for the Wicked _attempt to show the beauty of love by showing happy romances, this one highlights the quirks of true love by discussing the defects of imperfect forms of love. Enjoy.**

**This story is not designed to have a plausible connection to the series, and is not chronologically related to _No Rest for the Wicked_. I just wanted to play with the existing relational dynamics.**

**By the way, I didn't use the English translation of the title ("What is Love?") to stop people from making light of the subject by mentally appending "Baby don't hurt me".**

The grind and clank of machinery and the complementary hum of magical energies which hinted at Seeker interference in a location welcomed Lok, his girlfriend Scarlet, and his friend Sophie, into the temple, the stage for their latest mission from the Foundation.

"This mission will be a breeze, just like the rest, right, Lok?" Scarlet asked her boyfriend.

"Yeah," Lok smiled affectionately, and they kissed.

A little part of Sophie died inside her.

_What happened, Lok? I thought you said you wanted us to have a chance to be together. So why are you with Scarlet?_

But she could tell he was happy with her. And that's all that mattered. She wanted to be with him, but she wanted the best for him too, and that was more important. So she had come to accept this arrangement.

"You're a hero, Lok. I always knew you were special. You've done great things, impressive things. This little mission shouldn't be much, eh?"

"Well, that's me," he smiled. "The second Dante Vale!"

They kissed again.

They walked down the hall, while carefully scrutinising their surroundings. One misstep could mean death.

"Hold on," Lok pressed against Scarlet's chest, stopping her in her tracks.

"Farslip!"

There was a clanking sound as the next brick in Scarlet's path depressed, and an array of lethally sharp objects descended upon the position Scarlet would've been at had Lok not stopped her.

"Thanks, Lok," she smiled, and kissed him.

"Farslip!" Lok called again, sending a serpent of force slithering down the corridor, triggering each trap and expending its ammunition.

"Shall we?" he smiled, taking his girlfriend's hand.

They walked down the now-harmless corridor, Sophie trailing behind.

They were about to reach when Sophie spotted one brick in the pattern formed by the rest still un-triggered.

Her eyes widened as her alacritous mind extrapolated Lok's path to find it landing him directly on that brick in a few strides.

"LOK! LOOK OUT!" she cried, running forward.

He was too engrossed in his girlfriend to notice.

"Huh?" Lok turned, still continuing on his path.

"HONOURGUARD!" she cried, throwing up a shield as the darts rained on the trio, harmlessly bouncing off the golden shield.

"Thanks, Sophie," Scarlet said.

"Don't mention it," she said nonchalantly.

"No, really," Lok smiled, "I owe you one."

"Let's just go," she said.

She didn't want to spend too much time looking into those deep oceanic eyes of his. She didn't need to fall in love with him again. She knew that was a risk she exposed herself to by going on missions with him, but she still cared about him. Had she not been there just now, he could've been riddled with darts.

The three continued through the temple.

They came to a room with a raised dais and two pillars on it. Each had a carved creature of sorts affixed to it.

"Hey, look! Scarlet! Those statues…that one on the right has an amulet in its mouth!"

"Good work, Lok!" Sophie said as they advanced.

The creatures' eyes glowed red.

"Look out!" Scarlet cried, as crimson bolts struck the ground before Sophie and herself.

Thick vines burst from the ground, wrapping themselves around the two girls.

"Scarlet!" Lok cried, running towards his girlfriend.

"LOK!" Sophie screamed.

He whirled about to see a Titan brandishing an array of dangerously sharp objects in front of Sophie.

"Hyperstride!" he dashed to his friend's aid.

"Armourbrand!"

The Titan was repelled.

"Touchram!" he slammed it to the ground, and lunged onto its open chest.

"Dragonfist!" he cried, banishing it with a quick punch to the face before it could turn its weaponry on him.

"Sophie, are you alright?" he ran up to her.

"Yes," she said, as she struggled to free herself.

"Dragonfist!"

He severed the vines with one swift stroke.

"Just a little…Shouldn't you be helping your girlfriend?"

She had managed to rid the sarcasm from that line. Barely.

"Oh, right…Scarlet!"

He ran over.

"Dragonfist!" he cut her loose.

"About time," she grumbled, dusting herself off.

Lok noticed her sulking.

"Scarlet, what's wrong?"

Her face reddened.

"What's wrong? _What's wrong_? I was trapped by these vines and you helped that _wench_ instead!"

"Hey!" Sophie put her hands on her hips and glared at Scarlet.

The couple ignored her.

"Scarlet, she…"

"_I don't care_!" she screamed.

"I am your _girlfriend_! If you don't know how to treat me then…then you don't _deserve_ my love!" she slapped him.

Lok stared at her, shocked.

"We're _over_!" she stomped out.

A single crystal tear rolled down Lok's face, tickling, hurting and cooling the still-warm, still-stinging region where Scarlet's palm had impacted, emitted more from hurt of the soul than the body.

An eternity of pain and confusion passed between that moment, that endless journey of a teardrop down a cheek, and the moment where Sophie placed a gentle, comforting hand on the same spot where Scarlet's hand had shattered him.

"Lok?" she whispered tenderly.

"Sophie…what…"

"Scarlet broke up with you," she said softly.

He looked down. More tears mottled the ancient dust that caked the ground.

"Why?" he asked, voice scratchy and shaky.

"Why?" he asked again.

"I…I thought she loved me."

"Did she?"

"But…"

"What did she say?"

"She said…she said I didn't deserve her love."

"Do you deserve your mother's love? Did you do anything at all to get it?"

"I…guess not."

"Dante, Zhalia…and…I…we're all your friends, Lok. We…love you, even if it feels weird to say it. And it's not because you're a great Seeker, or brave, or good at solving crosswords at anything. It's because you're our friend."

He looked up, his tears starting to dry, the redness ebbing away.

"You don't deserve my love either, Lok," Sophie said quietly.

"But I still love you."

And she kissed him.

**A/N Well, that's part one. There are religious undertones to this parable, but it is nonetheless extremely relevant to romantic, sexual love. But the sentiments expressed within are further-reaching that that.**

** Despite all this, we must not forget: "The perfections of the one we love are not fictions of love. To love, on the contrary, is the privilege of noticing a perfection invisible to other eyes." ~Nicolás Gómez Dávila**


	2. Chapter 2: Infatuation

Secunda Partis: Infatuation

**A/N Same actors, different universe, different story. Different moral.**

"So that means that…hmm…"

"Hey, Sophie, need any help?" Lok said, squatting down next to her.

"No, Lok," Sophie said, not taking her eyes off the ancient inscriptions she was translating.

"I need you to stand guard with Scarlet. Dante said the Organisation was planning to come here, remember?"

"Oh." He was clearly disappointed.

"Now go. This translation is rather tricky and I can't afford to get distracted."

He withdrew, visibly less bubbly and enthusiastic. The ritual was familiar: he would try to get closer to Sophie, get rejected for a perfectly rational reason, and then leave, mood darkened.

Scarlet was smiling broadly as he approached her, staring at his shoes and his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, you like her, don't you?" she said with her characteristic Irish accent.

Lok blushed.

"You used to do the same things around me."

This didn't help the blush. And he felt a twinge of guilt, as though he had been cheating. On whom, and with whom, was less clear.

He sighed heavily. Scarlet was still his friend, after all.

"It's just…Sophie's a Casterwill. Her family is so old and…and _powerful_, it's…she's got all these manners and all, and she's so smart, but I'm just…I'm like a nobody, just her friend whose Dad happened to be on this super-important quest that he never knew about. That's the only reason why I even get to hang out with her."

"So…you think she'll never accept you?"

"It's just…I've known her for so long, even before I got mixed up in all this Seeker junk. When I first saw her, it's like a piano fell on me. I knew I could never be happy with anyone else. I…I think this is what people mean when they say 'I love you'."

"When people say that, they normally expect it to be said back to them, you know," Scarlet said.

"But…I just can't imagine Sophie saying it. I don't even dare to imagine her saying it to me. It's just too much, Scarlet. Why would she ever say that? Why would she ever love me?"

"If you know she won't ever love you back, then why don't you give up?"

"Because I love her."

"Aren't you being obsessive? Don't you think this will wear off sooner or later? Why waste time?"

"I don't want it to wear off, Scarlet. I'd rather die."

"Die for her, when she doesn't love you back?"

"I'm more afraid of not loving her any more than being rejected."

"And you'll love her even if she rejects you?"

"Yes."

She laughed softly.

"You're crazy, Lok. But you're still just a boy. You'll forget her soon."

"No," he said defiantly, eyes burning.

"I meant it when I said I'd rather die."

His voice was harsh.

"You need to move on, Lok. You're smart enough to know you'll never get her, but still you don't give up."

She brushed his fringe gently.

"There are a lot of girls out there, Lok."

He looked away. He could sense she was flirting with him. He would've appreciated that when he was eight. But now he was twice that age.

"I'm sure you would've said the same things when I was babysitting you. But now…"

"That was just puppy love. _This_ is real."

"You'd have said that too."

"I'm _sixteen_, Scarlet. Not eight."

"But you _act_ like you're eight."

"I'm just being loyal."

"Obsessed."

"Look, Scarlet. I _love_ Sophie. Maybe, at first it was a crush. I mean, she's really cute…and smart…and everything, but a whole year of sitting behind her, and two more of sitting next to her, hoping she'd just turn around, just speak to me just _once_…and the one time she did, I was happy for a whole month. Even though I failed every test that month. And even when I first talked to her and asked her to help me with my homework, and she didn't even know my name…I didn't give up. I will _never_ give up. I will _die_ before I give up."

"What's the point of loving someone if they won't love you back?"

"What's the point of loving someone only because they love you back?"

"You're going to give your whole life away to her…and she doesn't even know?"

"Is it more special to throw your life away for someone who loves you, or someone who doesn't even see you there?"

"How can you love someone so much if you'll never be with them?"

"How can you say that you love someone when you only do it because they love you?"

"There! That's it! Lok, come here. I need you to solve this puzzle," Sophie's voice came, so distant, but yet so close.

"I love Sophie," Lok said, firmly. "I will die for her. Even if she doesn't feel the same way…even if I'm invisible to her…I will love only her, and no-one else. Not now. Not ever."

He headed towards the object of his love, his passion, his noble infatuation.

**A/N "Questions only fall silent when faced with love. 'Why love?' is the only impossible question." ~Nicolás Gómez Dávila**

**And so our tale is concluded. This story is rated K+, but the depth of it is somewhat more profound than that. I shall be sparing with the explicit points of my exposition, and let the story speak for itself. Remember, this is a parable: its full fruit can only be reaped by reflection. Please give some thought to this instead of merely reading, particularly if you are a Christian.**

**Also, while I said this story describes true love by highlighting the defects of imperfect love, what Lok feels for Sophie is arguably the most noble, perfect form of love possible. It is Scarlet's conception of love that is imperfect.**

**See my profile for the link to the theme song for this fanfic.**


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